Silk Screen Printing DIY

Many people think that silk screen printing at home is a difficult thing. Others tend to believe that it is a very costly hobby or business to get into. The way that I ended up doing this from home on the cheap is that I really don’t like to spend money on things that I can create myself. And so I set out to get into something that I love (which is screen printing) for the cheapest cost right from home.

How I Got Started Silk Screen Printing

I am often asked how I got started silk screen printing at home. My answer is always a little varied because it was not just one thing that lead me to this hobby. First of all I would always see entertainers in magazine and in music videos wearing t-shirts and sweatshirts that had awesome graphics and logos on them. And I would search for hours online trying to find where I could buy something similar. I really like sneakers and love to match the colors of the sneakers with the shirts that I wear. Not having much luck finding the retailers for those celebrity tees at prices I was willing to pay lead me into learning how to silk screen print. I guess you can say that early on I was looking to get into this for the cheap!

Where Did I Learn Silk Screen Printing

I really wanted to sport those threads that the music celebs were sporting so I went to the one place that I was sure to learn silk screen printing. Youtube. Once I was there I began to watch video after video of all the processes involved from which type of ink to use, to what quality of t-shirt I should printing my designs on, to how to use a screen printing press.

The problem for me was not so much the t-shirts or the ink but the major cost would be securing a press. I searched many online retailers and was blown away by the high initial cost of a store bought screen press. A one color press ranged from $100+ and a 4-color press was roughly $250 and up. Because it was going to be a hobby I kind of thought that was too steep of a price when you included all of the supplies I was looking at about $500 to start off with brand new everything. So I again relied on Youtube for ideas of how to solve this problem.

How To Make A Silk Screen Printing Press

If there was a way to screen print for cheap I was going to find it. So I did a search for “how to make a silk screen printing press” and was surprised to see a number of good videos on the process of making your own. There were some that were made very fancy with metal and all that but at the time those were a bit out of my league. I saw some rather easy ones that I could build DIY that were made out of 2×4’s. They featured both a one color press and a 4 color press design. Knowing that I would more than likely be making most of my own designs in a minimum of 2 colors I decided that I would build myself a 4 color silk screen printing press. So I watched as many videos as I could find on the topic of Silk Screen Printing At Home and then I was ready to proceed.

The next day I went to my local big box home store and purchased all of the supplies that the videos instruction stated that I would need. I bought a few 2×4’s, screws, c-clamps, lazy susan, and springs and within a day I had built a working 4 color screen press. I later searched Ebay and found a seller that was selling silk screen printing fabric for an awesome price and I ordered it along with a starter kit of screen printing ink and some squeegees. While I waited on the fabric and stuff I looked a videos that showed how to build a silk screen printing frame so I went and purchased 2×2’s and made 4 frames.

At this point I was into the whole thing for less that half the price of a profession silk screen printing machine. I however had no illusions about the performance of the DIY silk screen machine over professional one. I knew that eventually I would end up splurging on a professional machine but I wanted to see how far and long I could go with the DIY stuff before doing so. Beside there is a certain level of satisfaction you get from building something on your own. Especially something that could return sever times your $$$$ if you decide to sell your screen printed items or designs. For example check out this Youtube user who has done VERY well ($$$) using his DIY screen press.

Within a few days I was up and running learning everything that I could about my new hobby. I learned how to make t-shirt designs in Photoshop and Gimpshop. I learned how to do color separation for my t-shirt artwork. I also learned where to buy my own t-shirt blanks. I purchased a few tees but was afraid to print on them just yet. I needed to practice printing the ink onto fabric so I found an old white bed sheet and used black ink to practice printing a simple t-shirt design. I spent the whole night printing and flashing until I got the techniques down packed. I then got brave enough to print the design on one of my new blank tshirts and it turned out good.

All in all this was a great way to get into silk screen printing at home. While it was not the most quickest way to get up and running it was the cheapest. I really hope my endeavor into silk screening printing for cheap has sparked the creativity and drive in you to step out and try it yourself. This can be a satisfying and very lucrative hobby if you put the work into it. Please look around this site to see the many DIY and helpful things that I have to share with you. More information on this website

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10 Ways to Advertise Online (and where to get started)

Most business owners fully understand that not advertising is the surest way to kill your business.

However they are also bombarded by so much information and so many choices they quickly lose track of what options are available to them.

There are a number of cheap and easy online advertising options available to you.

1. Ezine Advertising

Ezine advertising is one of the best ways to reach your future customers because it is often inexpensive and flexible as well as offering you the option to match the ezine audience with your product and ad. It also often offers a double benefit–your initial ad plus longevity in the ezine archives.

2. Text Links

This simple tool is often overlooked by many. It is simply one of the least expensive and yet most powerful advertising option available. You can often buy text links for under $10 and the link will not only promote the specific site or page you choose but also connect it with the specific key words that will benefit you the most.

Text links also provide a double bonus. You can attract immediate traffic from the host site as well as achieve better search engine ranking which will further increase traffic.

3. Pay per click advertising

Just like it sounds pay per click advertising is simply paying for specifically targeted traffic. You can monitor and control these advertising programs very closely and tweak your ad copy and the key words that you are sponsoring. This can be a very expensive option but doesn’t have to be if you plan carefully and watch closely.

4. Email marketing

Despite ever-increasing vigilant attempts to stop spam, we all know that email marketing is still alive and well. While it is foolish in the extreme to risk your business, web host, or internet connection, by sending out spam you can still use email marketing as a way to reach out and touch your customers and your future customers.

You just need to make sure that no one receives mail except the people who ask for it. People are still willing to sign up for mailing lists–especially if you have something to offer them in return for sharing their email address. Sponsor a contest; give away an article, ebook, or tutorial; or offer a discount and you will have people sign up willingly.

Then if you don’t abuse the mailing list you will have the opportunity to reach them again and again!

5. Banner Ads

Banner ads have a bad reputation. In part because of the proliferation of banner farms that killed all the banner swap programs (or at least made them completely ineffectual). Also we all have memories of those hideous banners flashing across the top of so many web sites.

Banners have come along way since then and a cleverly designed banner can be a real asset to any advertising campaign. Also don’t forget that you don’t have to use one of those big giant banners that span the width of the screen. You can use smaller simple ads that can fit easily into the sidebar or special box on a web site so they can suit the design and work more effectively.

It is also important that you pay close attention to what sites you will choose for displaying your banner. IE. A site about web development for your web hosting service ad or a site about parenting for your ad promoting your potty training book.

Many text link and pay per click advertising vendors also offer the option of banner ads. Similarly many ezine and newsletter publishers sell space on their sites.

~~ Sell Your Knowledge ~~

These next five advertising methods are all free or relatively inexpensive because you are trading something of value — your knowledge and expertise — in return for advertising.

6. Publish a Newsletter

Creating your own regular newsletter or ezine offers you all the advantages of ezine advertising and email marketing offered above.

7. Publish a Blog and RSS Feed

While publishing a newsletter or ezine isn’t that difficult it is much easier to create a blog and make its content available via RSS feed. This can offer you the benefits of regularly updated material for your web site which will be attractive to visitors and search engines alike. It will also help establish you as an expert in your field.

I personally like using WordPress on your own site but many web hosts now offer blogging services and there are many free blogging sites around where you can create a blog on their site.

8. Write Articles

Take some of the material you have generated for your newsletter and/or blog and share it with others. Make it available in one of the many free content directories available on the web. This not only helps to establish your credibility but the contact info you provide in your resource box (which will run every time someone else publishes your material) will bring in both direct traffic as well as search engine attention.

9. Create an Ebook

Once you have enough material generated from your newsletter and blog then you can package it into a convenient Ebook and give it away. Make sure to collect names and email addresses and offer a coupon or discount to bring people back to your site!

10. Post in Forums

If you have the time you should start your own forum but even if you only have a few minutes a week to spare for this effort then it can be well worth the effort. Don’t offer blatant spam posts but find a forum where you have something to offer. Make sure that you include an appropriate url and description for your forum signature and you will attract the double benefit of traffic and search engine attention!

No successful advertising campaign embraces one single method of advertising and no single method of advertising works for everyone. Advertising cannot be treated as a one-size-fits all proposition. However you know what your business needs and can offer–mix and match methods and make sure to track your results–to optimize your choices.